The Boutique Jazz Festival Packing A Bombastic Artistic Punch!
Cork City is well known for its Jazz Festival but this smaller event is well away from the city in the beautiful West Cork village of Ballydehob. While it may not have the sheer scale of the October festival, it is popular and has been a great success since its debut on the festival scene in 2007, largely due to a programme that has something for all lovers of Jazz.
This is a small and friendly festival in a small and friendly town, and even if you are not a major Jazz fan is worth getting along to if you are in Ireland at the time.
Ballydehob Jazz Festival 2023 takes place 28th April to 1st May 2023. Food & Crafts Stalls fill the Community Hall whilst visitors are entertained by Live Jazz music & dance performances contact Sacha & Caroline at ballyjazzmarket@gmail.com to book a stall.
Follow the festival on Facebook (BallydehobJazzFest) & Instagram ( ballydehobjazzfestival) for gig updates and weekend ticket giveaways.
The Ballydehob Jazz Festival takes place across the village of Ballydehob, gateway to the Mizen Peninsula in West Cork, Ireland, on the Wild Atlantic Way. Since its inception in 2007, the Ballydehob Jazz Festival has grown in size and stature. Shortlisted for best West Cork Festival in 2019, each May Bank Holiday weekend the village hosts over 40 live music and dance performances that range from big name concerts to small workshops; from lively pub gigs to intimate side shows and a healthy dose of fringe attractions to compliment.
In addition to the main festival events there are busking competitions, both for young and adults musicians and a street market and traders fair. After each day’s events, the place to end the night is the Festival Club, which sees the community hall transformed into a happening late night venue from midnight till the small hours.
But the highlight of the festival for everyone is the New Orleans-style Jazz Funeral. Ballydehob is a hotbed of creativity at the best of times and the idea of a Jazz Funeral has galvanised the community. The amazing spectacle of the Jazz Funeral with Papier Mache puppets and marching bands get’s better every year and is a moving work of art in itself.
What makes Ballydehob Jazz unique is it is a community festival with the whole village involved and our eclectic creative community in West Cork at its eccentric best. Visitors love not just the set piece concerts but the fact you can wander into the fine hostelries and eateries Ballydehob is known for, mingle with the performers and enjoy impromptu sessions. Everybody knows each other from these sessions and from the Jazz Club in the community hall and this is a uniquely friendly festival.
It is also a victim of its own success with accommodation difficult in normal years and the simple fact that many of the informal sessions come into their own late in the evenings. For this reason you will find a pop up Jazz Village of camper vans and tents down by the 12 Arch Bridge and within staggering distance of the Community Hall.
More details, venues, timings and tickets on the festival website:
